This branch of the Austrian Hesch family is descended from Johann Hesch and his wife Marya (Schlinz) Hesch, who came to America from Oberschlagles, Bohemia with three sons: Paul, Mathias, and Anton. +++Johann & Marya settled in Buffalo County, Wisconsin but moved to Pierz, Mn in about 1885. .+++Mathias settled in Waumandee, Wisconsin and moved to Pierz in 1911. +++Anton never married but farmed with his dad in Agram Township, where he died in 1911.+++And Paul, my great grandfather, settled five miles away, in Buckman, Minnesota. He died there in 1900.

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Monday, January 24, 2011

Have you ever noticed the curious configuration of quite a few names in central Minnesota? They're names that (maybe by accident) are a word with an L added to it, like:BRANDLSTANGLGANGL
SCHOTL
REISCHL
PITZLPESCHL

The names in red are Morrison Co names, and the others are from the St Cloud Directory, but they're familiar, too.
We found L-ending names in the Bohemian church books, coincidentally those in red. I wonder if this a significant formation in Bohemia or in Germany, or Silesia? Does anyone know?
(Oh, I forgot LOL ☺)

Our good friend Anon happens to teach German, so this sort of information is something he probably realized years ago:

"The Stangl, Brandl, Gangl, Peschel - which was Peschel around Buckman for over 100 years - are all dialectical derivatives without the proverbial - el - spelling prevalent throughout the German empire. The -gl and -dl were prominent in names of our ancestors from Bohemia and Austria. It is a common dialect form found throughout the Austrian Empire, and also Bavaria, which controlled much of Bohemia at one time. Maidl was a common name west of Buckman years ago too. One can always tell that those people are basically Austrian by birth, just like Loidolt, since Germans don't usually use an -oi- spelling in anything. Again an Austrian dialect derivative".

Thanks, Anon--this is one less thing for me to wonder about. So, if a German speaking ancestor has a name ending in -l, it's a pretty good indication that they were Austrian-cool!